Book Review: Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospelsby Rich Deem

Book Review

Synopsis:
Best introductory book on Christian apologetics.Summary: Cold-Case Christianity is a fresh look at the reliability of the New Testament gospels from the eyes of a cold-case criminal investigator. J. Warner Wallace, a former atheist and an expert at rules of evidence, examines the evidence for the truth of Christianity using examples of criminal cases he has investigated and prosecuted.

Rating:

Rich Deem

Introduction

Without a doubt,
Cold-Case Christianity
is the most creative and interesting examination of the case for the validity of
the Christian faith ever published. It has become my favorite Christian
apologetics book. If you have been trying to witness to a family member or
friend and have been unable to make inroads, this book is an ideal way to get
them interested in the topic. If the unbeliever is also interested in one or
more of the many crime scene investigation programs on television, they will not
be able to put this book down. The author, J. Warner Wallace is a cold case
detective and former atheist, who upon examining the evidence for Christianity
became a Christian himself. Since that time Wallace has been involved in
Christian apologetics and evangelism and even planted a church.

Becoming a detective

The first section of
Cold-Case Christianity is devoted to looking at evidence the way a
criminal investigator would look at it. Those same rules that apply to
criminal investigations also apply to the analysis of evidence regarding any
topic, including the claims of Christianity. The first rule is not to assume
you already know the answer (entering an investigation with a preconceived
idea about how it will turn out). Wallace gives one of his many examples of
how, when investigating his first murder, the lead detective assumed he knew
the murderer, looking at the evidence with through a biased perspective.
Each chapter of section 1 examines a different topic, including inference,
circumstantial evidence, testing witnesses, reading between the lines,
separating artifact from evidence, testing conspiracy theories, evidential
chain of custody, determining reasonable doubt, and determining the nature
of truth.

Throughout the book, Wallace refers to his "callout bag," which he took
to every investigation upon being called in the middle of the night. The
callout bag for the Christian or seeker are the tools one uses to examine
the evidence.

Circumstantial evidence

Nearly all the evidence for God's existence falls into the circumstantial
evidence category. Although skeptics tend to dismiss such evidence as not
being convincing, nearly all criminal cases involve many forms of
circumstantial evidence. Cumulative circumstantial evidence provides a very
strong case to determine the truth of a matter. In a court of law, a suspect
can be found guilty of a crime purely upon the strength of circumstantial
evidence. Likewise, the case for the truth of Christianity is based upon
many different pieces of circumstantial evidence, along with eyewitness
testimony.

Reliability of the witnesses

Throughout both the first and second sections of
Cold-Case Christianity,
Wallace examines the question of the reliability of the gospel writers as
eyewitnesses of the events and people they wrote about. Many skeptics
assume the writers were either lying or biased, without any evidence that
those writers were unreliable witnesses. In criminal law, a witness is
assumed to be truthful unless there is evidence to the contrary (Section
105, Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions,
2006). Although skeptics often deem the New Testament writers to be unreliable,
they provide no evidence that that is the case. In the second section,
Wallace questions the motive for which the New Testament writers might have
fabricated the life, ministry and resurrection of Jesus. In criminal cases,
nearly all motives involve money, relationships or power. Wallace goes on to
show that none of those motives could apply to the gospel writers, since
they lived simple lives, without material possessions, did not have women
following after them, and possessed virtually no political power—often
being forced to flee from those who did possess that power. Ultimately,
nearly all the apostles were murdered because of their preaching. It is
unreasonable to assume the disciples would have gone to their death if their
preaching were based upon what they knew to be lies.

Corroborative evidence

In addition to the more popularly presented evidence for the truth of the
gospels, Wallace presents evidence that I had never been familiar with. For
example, the names of people in the New Testament match the most popular
names found in Palestine during the first century. However, those names did
not match the most popular names of Jewish men found in Egypt, for example.
The gospels also mention little-known towns in Palestine that would be
unknown to those who were unfamiliar with the area or were writing centuries
after the events took place. In contrast, the books rejected by the Church
did not contain the details of these little-known towns and villages,
suggesting an after-the-fact forgery. Many other examples of corroborative
evidence can be found in
Cold-Case Christianity.

Undesigned coincidences

There are dozens of "undesigned coincidences" between the gospels, which
provide support for the reliability of the parallel eyewitness accounts. For
example, in Matthew 26:67-68, the chief priest and members of the council
struck Jesus and asked Him to prophesy who hit Him.1
It wouldn't seem to have been a difficult thing to do, unless one had read
Luke 22:63-64, which included the added detail that Jesus had been
blindfolded.2 In the feeding of the five
thousand, Jesus asked Philip where they should buy food (John 6:5).3 Philip
is a very minor character in the gospels, who was very seldom mentioned. Why
did Jesus ask him rather than one of the other disciples? It turns out that
Philip was from Bethsaida (John 12:21),4 the location of the feeding of the five thousand.
However, John's gospel does not tell us where the feeding occurred. Although
the account of the feeding is in all four gospels, we only get the location
from Luke's gospel (Luke 9:10).5 But Luke did
not indicate whom Jesus asked and did not state where Philip had lived. So,
we can only figure out why Jesus asked Philip where to get food by reading
parallel accounts from Luke and John. Needless to say, Jesus already knew
that even Philip would have no idea where to get enough food to feed five
thousand.

Conclusions

Cold-Case Christianity
is a fascinating examination of the evidence for the reliability of the gospel
accounts. The examples of criminal cases and how those principles apply to a
forensic examination of the gospels brings life to a topic (apologetics) that is
often seen as uninteresting and boring. Once you start reading this book, you
will not be able to put it down. The book is highly recommended for Christians
who want to improve their ability to witness to others and also as gifts to
skeptics, as a way to get them interested in the evidence for the Christian
faith.